NFLRT 2/23/2024

The questions and discussion…

1) If the Bears, as the prevailing opinion is being floated around, intend to keep the first overall pick in the upcoming draft and use it to take a QB then in all likelihood  they will trade Justin Fields.

In your opinion which team would be the best fit for Field’s future as an NFL QB? Why?

While I think the right move for Chicago is going to be to trade Justin Fields, reset their quarterback pay structure in getting a young, developing quarterback at a very cheap, club-controlled deal for multiple seasons, the Bears are going to want a rather large return for Justin Fields. And I think that Atlanta is a great spot for him. They have a very young roster, who is in need of a good, quality quarterback.

The thing about Fields that meshes well with the Falcons is that he has the mobility to move around and create space. He can run just as much as he can throw. And keeping with the roster, with Bijan Robinson, Cordarrelle Patterson, Kyle Pitts, Drake London, Tyler Allgeier, the Falcons are set to really hone in on that. They can build upon his development in Chicago, and I feel like they can take Fields above the cap that was ultimately set in Chicago for him. With such a nice-fitting piece to the Falcons’ offensive puzzle, this seems like the right move for both teams. They get a young quarterback who has the potential to be a franchise quarterback, while also not losing their mobility and versatility on the offensive side of the football.

Fields will have to get better at reading the field, making quicker decisions, and not taking sacks, but with the play-makers around him, he shouldn’t have too many issues. Adding weapons can only help him, and Fields reaching his maximum potential as a quarterback is going to be great, not only for Atlanta, but for the NFL as a whole. 

Fields doesn’t fit the mold of a detailed, fast-acting drop back passer, which means that the team that takes on Fields has to be somewhat reliant on the run game with a QB who uses a lot of play action and isn’t afraid of to take of with the ball to pick up yards.

The Pittsburgh Steelers fit that bill… while their offensive line could use a player or two the Steelers like to be employ a running game and play some smash mouth football.

The Steelers also have in tight end Pat Freiermuth and wide receivers George Pickens and Diontae Johnson on offense who give Fields the best pass-catching trio that he will have had since he was at Ohio State.

With Fields at QB the Steelers will be a real threat to win the AFC North.  

2) This off-season QB Kirk Cousins will be a free agent…

In your opinion where will Kirk Cousins be playing when the regular 2024/2025 season kicks off? Why?

Kirk Cousins is coming off of a major injury and is getting older. The contract, in which he has been very solid at negotiating a heavily guaranteed deal with both Washington and Minnesota, is going to be the key factor in him signing with a team. If the Raiders can hold on to Davante Adams for the future instead of trading him away, which has been among the rumors to occur this off-season, I think Cousins would thrive in Las Vegas. Not only will he get a roster that he can have control over, but he can get the most out of the receivers for a team that also has been lacking a quality quarterback this past season, having gone through Jimmy Garoppolo, Aiden O’Connell and a little bit of Brian Hoyer. Keeping Adams and having a key, high-volume wide receiver for Kirk Cousins would be incredibly intriguing, especially since he can provide ball security, high yards and quality game-play week in and week out, improving the Raiders ability to try to stay afloat an AFC West that was pretty wide open last season. 

The best place for Cousins is to go right back to being the starting QB for the Vikings.

First how many other teams will want a 36-year-old quarterback coming off an Achilles tear? Not very many, so his options are limited.

Second the Vikings with their roster need an above-average veteran QB so their offense  can be at its most effective when they have the ball.

It just makes a lot of sense for both the player and the team which already has an offense in place for him and understands what he needs in coming back from his injury.

3) In light of the fact that QB Baker Mayfield will also be a free agent this off-season… 

Will the Tampa Bay Buccaneers use their first round pick in the draft to select a QB? Why or why not? 

With the rumors, and almost certainty after audio got leaked by Baker Mayfield on a hot mic that he’ll be returning to Tampa, I don’t see the Buccaneers drafting a quarterback in round one. They might lose Mike Evans this off-season, Godwin is inconsistent, and they have an aging running back in White who has been getting a lot of activity and usage in the past couple of seasons.

I think they’re going to go for another playmaker, or some offensive line help instead of a quarterback, especially with Kyle Trask still serving as a back-up on a rookie contract, and who showed a lot of flashes of potential in his limited game action in 2023.

I don’t think, without having a top pick, it would be smart for Tampa to draft a quarterback in the first round, especially since the talent that will be available later in the draft would be more worth taking a flyer on in order to develop and compete with Trask in a couple of seasons. 

To get a QB worth the risk in this year’s draft ibn order to replace Mayfield the Bucs would need to trade up and in my opinion that would waste using their first rounder when they have needs elsewhere.

As for Mayfield, why go anywhere else? Since signing on with the Bucs Mayfield played some of the best QB of his career. Still while that may be true about his career at the same time it isn’t like he transformed himself into a top-10 quarterback. Which probably means his options in free agency won’t be any more appealing than staying right where he is playing in Tampa.

The best case scenario for Mayfield and the Bucs is for both to come to a mutual agreement for him to stay there long term and be the top dogs in a very winnable division.

4) Not counting the New England Patriots who had just “fired” Bill Belichick seven  teams had vacancies for a head coach. 

In your opinion why didn’t any of these teams sign Belichick as their head coach for the 2024 season? 

I don’t think it’s so much why didn’t teams sign Belichick as more of why Belichick didn’t show more interest in teams.

I think a lot of teams wanted to go younger this season, see how it plays out, and let him sign with a team next off-season. I think Belichick also wanted to wait out a year to see if a team emerges as a candidate for him to come to, not have to develop, and that he can take over as a team that’s been disappointing, but with a lot of talent and potential to get to the playoffs and get him over the all-time wins plateau he’s searching for.

Atlanta was really the only spot he had an interview for, going back for a second interview even. And while they didn’t work out, I don’t think it was him not fitting the job description or what Arthur Blank was looking for, or that Belichick didn’t want the job, I think it was more so an interview process to pick his brain and see how they should go about future development of their entire roster and coaching staff.

Belichick taking a year off can give him a lot of insight into how the game has changed. After the struggles of the past three seasons without Tom Brady at quarterback in New England, Belichick deserves to take a year off to let his mind sit and rejuvenate for a comeback to take over the all-time wins title for coaches.    

I have the feeling a lot of team’s owners and front office personnel were actually afraid of hiring Belichick because of his rep to be in control of everything  from the play on field to who fills out the roster and that worked out against him getting a lot of meaningful interviews out of Atlanta. And according to Hall of Fame coach Jimmy Johnson those fears were e unfounded as during a visit with Belichick he confided that he didn’t need to have player personnel control; that he would be content to just be the head coach.

I also think what Belichick ultimately decided to do was to take the year off and more or less take a break from the game and then wait to see what becomes available next season.  

5) And considering the eight teams… Chargers/Jim Harbaugh, Commanders/Dan Quinn, Falcons/Raheem Morris, Panthers/Dave Canales, Patriots/Jerod Mayo, Raiders/Antonio Pierce, Titans/Brian Callahan and Seahawks/Mike Macdonald… who did hire head coaches this off-season…

Which team made the best decision for their new head coach and which team made the worst decision for their new head coach? Why?

I think the best decision at head coach goes to the Chargers. They got a proven leader, a proven winner, and the most recent college football champion in which he installed such a good system in Michigan, that he didn’t even have to be there for six games this season, including their biggest regular season game of the year against Ohio State, yet still had the Wolverines win every single game and the National Championship. He had great success in San Francisco with multiple quarterbacks and having 44 wins compared to only 19 losses. San Francisco immediately went south after Harbaugh left to go back to college, and coming into an environment that is already set up for success after multiple disappointing seasons is just a fantastic situation for both parties. He also gets to lead one of the best young quarterbacks in the league in Justin Herbert with a big wide receiver group. He can try and get the most out of Quentin Johnston after a very disappointing rookie campaign for the 21st overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. 

The worst decision at head coach, in all honesty, was the Patriots moving from Belichick to Jerod Mayo. While he does have experience and was supposed to be Belichick’s successor for a couple of seasons now, he doesn’t have a ton of experience leading an organization as a coach or play-calling. How well can he take what he learned from Belichick, both as a player, and on his staff, to the Patriots to lead them? He’s going to need to retool a roster that needs almost every position from the trenches to playmakers on offense and defense, to even a quarterback and a kicker. It’s a very tall task to ask of a first-time head coach. He has to rebuild the entire team, set up a new philosophy and ideology including a new structure for offense and defense. He’s going to need a lot of leadership from his older players, a lot of advice from a younger, inexperienced coaching staff, and really dig his shoes into the mud to get to work. For an organization that’s used to winning, with a fan base that’s used to winning, how much space is he going to get allowed to give him time to develop and turn it around? How much pressure is this new job going to give him in which he can lead and develop a whole flip of a team around? 

Best hire was the Chargers and Jim Harbaugh

Harbaugh’s been an undisputed winner everywhere he’s coached, and that includes the NFL. In 2012 he was a win away from a Super Bowl title with the 49ers and with the Chargers he’s back in familiar territory with a franchise QB in Justin Herbert and a playoff caliber roster already in place. It’s kinda, sorta a match that was destined to happen that paired up a talented team that at times looked like world beaters with a guy who knows how to get the best out of his personnel and dial up an explosive offense.

The worst hire was the Commanders and Dan Quinn.

Washington rightfully got rid of Ron Rivera who after four seasons was essentially stuck in neutral. But to go and hire a guy whose biggest claim to fame was leading the Falcons to SBLI where the Falcons surrendered a 28-3 lead, which was the largest ever in the history of the Super Bowl and then that Quinn and the Falcons would make the playoffs only one more time while going just 18-23 overall before he got canned at the halfway point of the 2020 season.

Hiring Quinn in Washington is more or less staying with the same old same old just with a different face.